A.J. Green sees a potential red flag with NFL's new national anthem policy

A.J. Green seems to have mixed feelings about the NFL’s new national anthem policy, a controversial decree by the owners aimed at preventing players from staging protests.

Green and the Bengals kept it simple last year, linking hands for one anthem and otherwise keeping it simple over the course of the season.

For Green, doing the same is the goal in 2018 “because we’re all here for one thing, and that’s to win,” as he told Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Perhaps the lone hiccup for Green when it comes to the policy is permitting players to stay in the locker room during the anthem.

“I feel like this is gonna cause some kind of feelings; between if some guys stay or some guys want to go out, then it becomes a problem,” Green said. “But I feel like if we all understand each other’s point of view and understand what each other’s fighting for, we shouldn’t have a problem.”

Bengals management does its best to avoid any sort of political expression during a game for various reasons. Other players weren’t as positive about the policy when it was announced: